Nelson Buck Massacre
1869 Nebraska

As Compiled In
2001 By

Dr. Leo L. Lemonds

For years, the fate of the Nelson Buck surveying party has
been clouded in mystery. Now from comparing a collection of written
articles and eyewitness reports, what happened to Nelson Buck
and his surveying crew seems reasonably clear.

There have been many articles written about the Nelson Buck
massacre. Most of the articles had obvious errors. They failed
to recognize that the Buck party was attacked at three different
locations. From the many articles written and verbal histories,
this article is an attempt to present the facts about the Nelson
Buck massacre as well as can be recorded from the information
available.

NELSON BUCK

The "Biographical Records of Livingston County, Illinois"
was published by the S.J. Clarke Publishing Company in 1900. According
to that article, Nelson Buck was born in Cheming County, New York
on April 10, 1808 and was the son of Aholiab and Annis (Drake)
Buck.

Nelson grew to manhood in his native county and there received
a good literary and musical education. He was for some years a
teacher of vocal music. He first married Miss Fidelia Withey,
of Port Byron, New York. They made their home in that place until
her death. With his father's family, he then came west to Peoria
County, Illinois and later married Miss Annis Knapp, daughter
of James and Margaret Knapp. The Knapps were from Homer, New York.

After his arrival in Peoria County, Mr. Buck learned surveying
and followed the occupation of a surveyor during the remainder
of his time in that county. He was a careful and methodical man.
The correctness of his lines was seldom questioned. He continued
to reside in Peoria County until 1840, when he moved with his
family to Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois. Here he continued
his profession of surveying. He also established one of the first
nurseries in that vicinity, in which line of business he was quite
successful. IN 1844, While residing in Bloomington, his wife died
leaving him and five children.

Mr. Buck continued living in Bloomington and resumed his business
there until his marriage in 1850 with Maria Fellows of Pontiac,
Illinois. He then moved to that city and took charge of her estate,
which consisted of a farm, hotel, many town lots and undivided
real estate. By his sound judgment, he put the estate into good
shape which later realized a handsome return.

In the various places where he made his home, Mr. Buck became
prominent in business, social and musical circles. Mr. Buck never
lost his interest in musical affairs and while residing in Bloomington,
he was one of the most prominent musicians of the place. He was
a leader of the choir in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally,
he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was
a well-known citizen of Pontiac, Illinois from 1850 to 1869.

Mr. Buck's skills as a surveyor secured him the appointment
as a government surveyor in 1869. He received a government contract
to do surveying in Red Willow and other counties in Nebraska for
the purpose of resurveying the line between Kansas and Nebraska.
For a crew he hired five young men from Pontiac, and later picked
up six more men in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. They left Plattsmouth,
Nebraska, July 5, 1869 for Ft. Kearny. There he left for Red Willow
County to begin surveying. His party was never heard from again.

THE TRAGEDY OF BUCK'S SURVEYING PARTY

Contrary to a lot of the written stories, the massacre happened
at three separate locations. The surveying party began their story
14 miles south of McCook, Nebraska, near the Beaver Creek in Red
Willow County. This was a half a mile from the Kansas-Nebraska
border near the town of Marion, Nebraska. Some of Buck's crew
members had spotted Indians and proceeded to shoot some of them.
One Indian escaped and undoubtedly this precipitated the attack
by the Indians against Buck's surveying party. They were attacked
at this location and some of them were killed, but several of
them escaped and got as far as Hollinger, Nebraska, about 50 miles
east, where they were attacked again. Buck and four other men
escaped this attack and fled southeast down the Beaver Creek to
the confluence of the Beaver and Sappa Creeks. Two of the men
were killed in Wildcat Canyon and Buck and the other man were
killed near the junction of the Beaver and Sappa Creeks. This
whole scenario could appropriately be entitled the "Nelson
Buck Massacre."

The Nelson Buck surveying party was massacred through what
might be referred to as "a comedy of errors." Buck probably
underestimated the potential danger of an Indian attack and failed
to wait for a military escort. Then two members of the Buck party
while out scouting ran into two or four Indians and proceeded
to kill them. However, one Indian escaped and undoubtedly reported
the attack to his tribe. It can be certain that this unwarranted
attack resulted in the massacre of the Buck surveying party by
the Indians.

The following story of the massacre is taken mostly from the
Stamford Star (Stamford, Nebraska) ca 1930.

In June of 1869, Nelson Buck, then about 60 years old, with
five young men, none of whom were 20 years old, left Pontiac,
Illinois, for Nebraska. Buck had received a government contract
to survey in the southwest part of Nebraska. The party reached
Plattsmouth, Nebraska, and was present at the formal driving of
the first spike in what is now the Burlington Railroad on July
4th. From there they went to Grand Island and on to Ft. Kearny,
having added six more members to the party. At Ft. Kearny they
asked for additional arms and an escort, but were unable to get
them at this time. They started out without them.

After about ten days journey, the surveying party located the
place where they were to begin running lines, and pitched camp
about a half mile from the Kansas-Nebraska border, which was surveyed
in 1854, close to the dividing line between Danbury and Gerver
Townships in Red Willow County. This was near what later became
the town of Marion, Nebraska, on a curve in the Beaver Creek.

From there, Buck sent John Nettleton and H.B. McGregor back
to Ft. Kearny for arms and soldiers. But when they arrived at
Ft. Kearny, they were unable to secure either, so they both got
a job with other parties and heard no more about the surveyors.

The only information of the massacre was gleamed from questioning
the Indians, "Spotted Tree," "Swift Bear,"
"Pawnee Killer," and an Indian squaw, who told of attacking
and killing part of the surveying party and destroying two of
their wagons. They reported that the rest of the party escaped
with the other wagons. The rest of the story must be gleaned from
the gruesome remains that were found by the early settlers, who
came a few years later.

These remains told them that those who escaped the first slaughter
started back to Ft. Kearny. They had reached a point south of
where Hollinger now stands on the Harmon farm on the northwest
corner of the Southwest Quarter of Section 9, Township 2 North,
Range 21 West of Furnas County, where they were again attacked.
This was about 50 miles east of their first camp. Their wagons
were burned at this place, but at least four of the men left the
wagons and continued southeast three or four miles down the Beaver
Creek. Two men were killed in the canyon that is now called "Wild
Cat Canyon." Later Isaiah King buried their remains in 1880.
It was located in the Southeast Quarter of Section 23. This land
was later owned by Maria Jane Forsythe Newton.

Captain Buck and one other of the party crossed the Beaver
Creek near the fork of the Beaver and Sappa Creeks and started
northeast. Here the Captain's horse was killed and he took refuge
in a plum thicket, where he was slain. The other man made it several
hundred yards north, where his skeleton was found.

The verification of the events that took place in Red Willow
County, were given to Mr. A.C. Furman by Tom Plumb an early settler
in that section, who located near that place in 1873, when he
was a lad old enough to remember the events. He tells of their
camp and where the fire had killed out the buffalo grass and the
charcoal left, "All around here their stakes were scattered,
six or eight big native timber stakes about three or four inches
square, which seemed intended for section stakes. There were a
lot of smaller stakes about like picket pins, which I suppose
were to be used for inside corners. The big stakes had been hewn
square and letters and figures carved on the sides. They would
have been three or four feet above ground after being driven.
We found two wagons in the creek bed in some driftwood, one was
a heavy old boy and the other a light spring wagon. Lem Daniels
got most of the wagons. I got a spring seat, minus the springs.
It had bows over it to make shade for the driver, but they had
broken off. Right over there (pointing to the southeast) on the
bank of the creek, Bill Shockley and I found several feet of surveyor's
chain and 20 or more Spencer rim-fire cartridges, in a wood-rat's
house. Bradley Buckworth found the skull of a white man, around
here somewhere, and had it on his mantle piece while he lived
there on the creek. Lem Daniel's little boys found an old compass,
all brass, on the quarter west of this. I used to work for Lem,
and I've looked it over hundreds of times. I think it must have
belonged to the Buck party. Lem finally sold it to some junk dealer
for the brass there was in it."

From the Nebraska Herald in 1869, in reporting the loss
of the Buck party says, "Lieut. Jacob Almy, under Gen. Duncan,
reported the capture on September 26, 1869, of a squaw who told
of an encounter between a party of white men and a band of Indians
under Pawnee Killer and Whistler. She said that four young Indians
in advance of the main body were attacked by whites and that three
of the Indians and one white man were killed. The Indians pursued
the aggressors in the direction of the Beaver Creek, took their
horses and rations, destroyed two wagons and killed five of the
whites, the rest of them escaping. This with other government
reports substantiated the fact that part of the Buck party were
killed in Red Willow County and that the rest escaped to be massacred
in eastern Furnas County.

Some writers had the entire massacre happening in Red Willow
County, while other writers of the events that took place in Furnas
County, ignore the events that took place in Red Willow County
and seemingly cast the whole story in Furnas County. When we look
at the whole matter, we find one story simply supplements the
other.

That some of the Buck party were massacred in eastern Furnas
County is verified by early settlers. The principle of whom is
Mrs. Daniel McInturf, upon whose farm, was found the bones of
Captain Buck and another man. The bones of Mr. Buck were identified
by his saddle and revolver, which had his name on it.

Mrs. McInturf said, "We found parts of the saddle and
pieces of his clothing. The saddle had Buck's name on it. There
were also many gun balls and arrow heads. A boy by the name of
Parks Gribble found the revolver. It also had his name on it.
The saddle was cut to pieces, little by little by people wanting
souvenirs of the massacre. The metal stirrups were in the possession
of the McInturf family for many years. Later they were given to
the Hastings Museum, Hastings, Nebraska."

The exact location of the spot where the things of Caption
Buck were found is 47 rods and 1 yard north; 14 rods and 4 rods
east of the fork of the Sappa and Beaver Creeks in the Southwest
Quarter of Section 24, Township 2 North, Range 21 West. These
measurements were made by Guy Newton and the McInturf boys after
Mrs. McInturf had located the exact spot, saying she had been
to it many times. Mrs. McInturf tells of her husband going to
the spot where the wagons had been burned to hunt bolts and iron
from the wagons, as hardware was scarce in those days.